Twelve forthcoming books

Posted Fri, November 9th, 2012 9:48 am by Ronald Collins

The Justices continue to publish. While two or more Supreme Court Justices do not often publish books in the same year, 2013 will prove otherwise. Back in 1968, Justice William O. Douglas published Towards a Global Federalism, while Justice Abe Fortas released his book, Concerning Dissent and Civil Disobedience. And then in 2004, Chief Justice William Rehnquist published Centennial Crisis: The Disputed Election of 1876 followed shortly thereafter by Justice Stephen Breyer’s Economic Reasoning and Judicial Review. (Children’s books are not included in this tally: see 353 books by Supreme Court Justices). Against that backdrop, next year we will see two new books by Justices, one by Justice Sonia Sotomayor and another by retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

There are a variety of other forthcoming books that should be of interest to our readers; the works range from biographical portraits of Supreme Court Justices to a book on cameras in the Court. Other books – such as one on the importance of oral arguments in the Court, and another on the significance of Justice Thurgood Marshall’s dissents – focus on how the Court does its work and how we might better understand it. Yet another category of books focuses on topics not typically covered in connection with the Court – namely, its rulings in the patent law area along with its opinions in cases involving monetary laws. Another book, with an array of distinguished contributors, looks at the Court’s handing of National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (2012), the famed health care case.

I took the liberty of mentioning two other books: first, a forthcoming book on the correspondence of Judge Learned Hand, which includes letters to Justices Oliver Wendell Holmes and Felix Frankfurter; and, second, a book on the work product of one of the Court’s most distinguished litigators, Floyd Abrams.

There you have it: Twelve forthcoming books, which are listed below with publisher’s blurbs or – in the case of Justice O’Connor’s book – an author’s description. We’ll have more notices and profiles in the months ahead.

— Sonia Sotomayor, My Beloved World (Knopf, January 15, 2013)

“With startling candor and intimacy, Sonia Sotomayor recounts her life from a Bronx housing project to the federal bench, a progress that is testament to her extraordinary determination and the power of believing in oneself. She writes of her precarious childhood and the refuge she took with her passionately spirited paternal grandmother. She describes her resolve as a young girl to become a lawyer, and how she made this dream become reality: valedictorian of her high school class, summa cum laude at Princeton, Yale Law, prosecutor in the Manhattan D.A.’s office, private practice, federal district judge before the age of forty. She writes about her deeply valued mentors, about her failed marriage, about her cherished family of friends. Through her still-astonished eyes, America’s infinite possibilities are envisioned anew in this warm and honest book, destined to become a classic of self-discovery and self-invention, alongside Barack Obama’s Dreams from My Father.” —Publisher’s blurb

— Sandra Day O’Connor: Out of Order: Stories from the History of the Supreme Court (Random House, March 2013)

“I called this book Out of Order because it reflects my goal, which is to share a different side of the Supreme Court. Most people know the Court only as it exists between bangs of the gavel, when the Court comes to order to hear arguments or give opinions. But the stories of the Court and the Justices that come from other ‘out of order’ moments add to the richness of the Court as both a branch of our government and a human institution.” —Justice Sandra Day O’Connor

— Floyd Abrams, Friend of the Court: On the Front Lines with the First Amendment (Yale University Press, June 2013)

“From the Pentagon Papers to Citizens United, Floyd Abrams has litigated the most controversial free-speech and free-press cases of our time. This inspiring and controversial collection of his writings addresses every key First Amendment issue of the past four decades. This collection of Abrams’s writings gathers speeches, articles, debates, Supreme Court briefs and oral arguments, and congressional testimony, all from his long career. The writings illuminate topics of ongoing import: WikiLeaks, the correctness of the Citizens United case, journalist shield laws, and, not least, the responsibilities of the press. An exceptional writer and a brilliant thinker, Abrams offers a unique perspective on the First Amendment and the unparalleled rights it confers.” —Publisher’s blurb

“The Supreme Court Justices: Illustrated Biographies, 1789-2012, Third Edition provides a single-volume reference profiling every Supreme Court justice from John Jay through Elena Kagan. An original essay on each justice paints a vivid picture of his or her individuality as shaped by family, education, pre-Court career, and the times in which he or she lived. Each biographical essay also presents the major issues on which the justice presided. Essays are arranged in the order of the justices’ appointments. Lively anecdotes along with portraits, photographs, and political cartoons enrich the text and deepen readers’ understanding of the justices and of the Court. The volume includes an extensive bibliography and is indexed for easy research access. New in this edition are: a foreword by Chief Justice John G. Roberts; a revised essay on Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist; updated essays on sitting or recently retired members of the court; new biographies for Chief Justice John G. Roberts and Associate Justices Samuel A. Alito, Elena Kagan, and Sonia M. Sotomayor; an updated listing of members of the Supreme Court with appointment and confirmation dates; and, an updated bibliography with key sources on the Supreme Court and the justices.” —Publisher’s blurb

— Leon Friedman & Fred Israel, editors, Justices of the United States Supreme Court, Fourth Edition, 4-Volume Set: Their Lives and Major Opinions (Facts on File Library of American History, December 1, 2012)

“Arranged in chronological order, Justices of the United States Supreme Court, Fourth Edition examines the biographical facts of each Supreme Court justice s life, including his or her background in the law, the paths that led each one to the Supreme Court, and each justice s major decisions, as well as how these decisions reveal an underlying legal philosophy. All entries and their corresponding bibliographies have been thoroughly updated in this revised four-volume set, and the nine entries on Justices Breyer, Ginsburg, Kennedy, O Connor, Rehnquist, Scalia, Souter, Stevens, and Thomas have been completely revised. New entries on Justices Alito, Roberts, Sotomayor, and Kagan have also been added. The Fourth Edition features contributions by some of the most prominent legal historians in the country. This reference is more reader-friendly than previous editions, containing a new introduction; an updated appendix with revised statistics and charts, including new tables on length of service and a list of rejected and withdrawn nominees; a chronology of the greatest moments in Supreme Court history; additional photographs and illustrations; and fact boxes for each justice.” —Publisher’s blurb

“Judge Learned Hand is an icon of American Law. Though he was never nominated to our country’s highest court, Hand is nevertheless more frequently quoted by legal scholars and in Supreme Court decisions than any other lower court judge in our history. He was the model for all judges who followed him, setting the standard for the bench with a matchless . In Reason and Imagination, Constance Jordan offers a unique sampling of the correspondence between Hand and a stellar array of intellectual and legal giants, including Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Theodore Roosevelt, Walter Lippmann, Felix Frankfurter, Bernard Berenson, and many other prominent political and philosophical thinkers. The letters–many of which have never been published before–cover almost half a century, often taking the form of brief essays on current events, usually seen through the prism of their historical moment. They reflect Hand’s engagement with the issues of the day, ranging from the aftermath of World War I and the League of Nations, the effects of the Depression in the United States, the rise of fascism and the outbreak World War II, McCarthyism, and the Supreme Court’s decisions on segregation, among many other topics. Equally important, the letters showcase decades of penetrating and original thought on the major themes of American jurisprudence, particularly key interpretations of the First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments.” —Publisher’s blurb

— Thomas Krause, Patent Law in the Supreme Court (Oxford University Press, July 2013)

“In view of the Supreme Court’s heightened interest in patent law, practitioners at all levels are well advised to bear in mind, for each issue in litigation, to what extent the ‘settled’ (or not so settled) Federal Circuit law has gone beyond the baseline set by the Supreme Court, as well as a sense of the extent to which these differences might lead to Supreme Court review of the issue. Patent Law in the Supreme Court comprehensively reviews key Supreme Court decisions, provides Supreme Court and Federal Circuit ‘State of the Law’ analyses, and discusses the many factors (dissents, panel decisions, academic commentary, and so on) that are indicators of ‘certworthiness’ i.e., likelihood of Supreme Court review.” —Publisher’s blurb

“Court and policy makers have increasingly had to deal with—and sometimes even embrace—technology, from podcasts to the Internet. Televised courtroom broadcasting especially remains an issue. The debate surrounding the US Supreme Court and federal courts, as well as the great disparity between different forms of television courtroom broadcasting, rages on. What are the effects of television courtroom broadcasting? Does research support the arguments for or against? Despite three Supreme Court cases on television courtroom broadcasting, the common thread between the cases has not been highlighted. The Supreme Court in these cases maintains a common theme: there is not a sufficient body of research on the effects of televising courtroom proceedings to resolve the debate in a confident manner.” —Publisher’s blurb

“While legal scholars, psychologists, and political scientists commonly voice their skepticism over the influence oral arguments have on the Court’s voting pattern, this book offers a contrarian position focused on close scrutiny of the justices’ communication within oral arguments. Malphurs examines the rhetoric, discourse, and subsequent decision-making within the oral arguments for significant Supreme Court cases, visiting their potential power and danger and revealing the rich dynamic nature of the justices’ interactions among themselves and the advocates. This study also introduces ‘Sensemaking’ as an alternative to rational decision-making in Supreme Court arguments, suggesting a new model of judicial decision-making to account for the communication within oral arguments that underscores a glaring irony surrounding the bulk of related research—the willingness of scholars to criticize oral arguments but their unwillingness to study this communication. With the growing accessibility of the Court’s oral arguments and the inevitable introduction of television cameras in the courtroom, this book offers new theoretical and methodological perspectives at a time when scholars across the fields of communication, law, psychology, and political science will direct even greater attention and scrutiny toward the Supreme Court.” —Publisher’s blurb

“In “I Dissent!“, the authors explore the Marshall’s “jurisprudence of dissent.” He pursued dissent to advocate fair and just treatment of subordinated groups, to posit the connection between substantive rights and governmental rights and governmental power, and to write a counter narrative of the experience and oppression of minorities, the poor, and women. This book captures the essence of Marshall’s jurisprudence and contrasts his positions with those of other justices.” —Publisher’s blurb

“This book reviews nine Supreme Court cases and decisions that dealt with monetary laws and gives a summary history of monetary events and policies as they were affected by the Court’s decisions. Several cases and decisions had notable consequences on the monetary history of the United States, some of which were blatant misjudgments stimulated by political pressures. The cases included in this book begin with McCulloch v. Maryland in 1819 and end with the Gold Clause Cases in 1934-35. Constitutional Money examines three institutions that were prominent in these decisions: the Supreme Court, the gold standard, and the Federal Reserve System. The final chapter describes the adjustments necessary to return to a gold standard and briefly examines the constitutional alternatives.” —Publisher’s blurb

Aug. 2015

In a conversation with Bill Kristol of The Weekly Standard, Justice Samuel Alito reflects upon (among other things) his arrival on the Court, recent First Amendment cases, the themes in his dissent in Obergefell v. Hodges, and his love for baseball.